Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management) (14:26): Senator Sterle, as a matter of fact I can. I know this is something that you followed very closely in your role as the chair RRAT, the committee we know affectionately as RRAT in this place. I don't know about you, Senator Sterle, but I thought that the election defeat that we saw recently of the former coalition government meant that once and for all the coalition's rorts had ended—the scandals, the rorts, the media reports, finally we might be making it clear of that. But, sadly, these reports have not even ended with the defeat of this government because last week the Australian National Audit Office released yet another scathing report into the former government's management of the $1.15 billion Building Better Regions Fund. This report confirmed what we already knew about the former government. It was the latest rort from a government notorious for rorts: sports rorts, car-park rorts, stacking the AAT— The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, resume your seat, and I would ask you to look to me when you're answering questions so you can see that I am asking you to sit down. Senator Rennick. Senator Rennick: Point of order, President: the Auditor-General is a partisan hack whose credibility was trashed in the Leppington Triangle. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Rennick, resume your seat. There is no point of order. Minister Wong, I've given you the call. Senator Wong: Point of order, President. Obviously, the Auditor-General can't defend themselves The point of order is that I'd ask that you ensure the Auditor-General are advised of what has just been said in order that the Auditor-General can avail themselves of the protections which exist under Hansard. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Minister Wong. I'm not sure that it is my job to advise outside bodies, but I'll seek the advice of the clerk, and if it is I will do so. Senator Watt, please continue your comments. Senator WATT: I think Senator Rennick's interjection indicates exactly why the former government cared so little about accountability if that's the way in which they regarded the high office of Auditor-General of this country. What the report released last week showed is that communities in regional Australia have been dudded, as the coalition actively ignored grant guidelines for their own political purposes in the largest open and competitive grants program available for regional projects. Regional communities with projects assessed as deserving were dumped to accommodate the political needs of a desperate, failing government in its final hours. Honourable senators interjecting— Senator WATT: Now, we always said in the run-up to the election that the coalition spent public money like it was Liberal-National Party money. The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, please resume your seat. I would ask senators to be quiet when the minister's answering the question because I need to hear the answers as well as other senators in this place. Senator Watt, please continue. Senator WATT: As I say, we said repeatedly that the coalition spent public money like it was the Liberal and National parties' money, and here is yet more proof in this fund. Regional Australia deserves better. Taxpayers deserve better, and they'll get it from this government. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Sterle, first supplementary?